Anti-Semitic acts continue to increase in France, according to a new report by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF). The annual document reports that violence and threats against French Jews increased dramatically in 2006 over a year earlier, with a 45% rise in physical attacks (112) and a 24% increase in alll registered anti-Semitic acts (371). (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 27) Anti-Semitic attacks also reached record levels in the UK last year, according to a study Britain's Community Security Trust. "These are the worst figures we have had in the 23 years since we have been monitoring it," said the Trust's Mark Gardner. (Reuters, Feb. 1) 2006 saw a rise in anti-Semitism around the world, according to the Jewish Agency's Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism. According to the figures, 2006 saw a 66% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, a 60% rise in Germany, and a 20% rise in Russia. As an explicitly Zionist organization, the Jewish Agency may have an interest in overstating the problem, but the statistics were based on law enforcement records. The report especially noted two murders—that of Ilan Halimi, beaten to death in France last January, and Pamela Wechter, shot dead in the Jewish Federation Building in Seattle in July. Images of a bullet-ridden Oslo synagogue, and worshippers at a Moscow synagogue coming under attack were included in the report. (YNet, Jan. 28) All the reports noted that anti-Semitic violence peaked during the Lebanon crisis.

Police are seeking 10 men, including several tribal elders, accused of pressuring a Pakistani woman to hand over her teenage daughter as payment for a 16-year-old poker debt. Nooran Umrani of Hyderabad says that, despite paying off her late husband's debt of $165, she was threatened with harm if she failed to hand over her daughter, Rasheeda, 17. (AP, Feb. 27)

The US and Italian ambassadors to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake and Pio Mariani, were slightly injured in an artillery attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on an air force base at Batticaloa, in the island's east Feb. 27. The LTTE expressed "shock and sadness" at the wounding of the diplomats, but said the government was to blame for not informing the rebels the envoys would be in the area. Sri Lankan military aircraft bombed "identified LTTE bases" in the Batticaloa district after the attack. The LTTE said a civilian teacher was killed and another wounded in the raids. (Bloomberg, Feb. 27) Meanwhile in Afghanistan, Vice President Dick Cheney was reportedly unhurt when Bagram air base came under attack during his visit to the base, also early Feb. 27. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the apparent suicide blast at the base's front gate, which killed two US soldiers and over 20 Afghans. Cheney is in the region to discuss resurgent Taliban/al-Qaeda activity with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Bloomberg, AP, Feb. 27)

Thousands of Serbs protested in front of the US embassy in Belgrade Feb. 27 against independence for Kosova, which has been under United Nations control since 1999. The protest, organised by the Serb National Council of Kosovo (SNV), drew some 40,000 people. Many came by bus directly from Kosova, carrying banners reading “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, "We won't give up Kosovo" and "Russia, help!" Some carried pictures of Vladimir Putin or signs calling for Moscow to veto Kosova's independence at the Security Council.

Anti-war marchers took to the streets in London and Glasgow Feb. 24 to demand the return of all troops from Iraq, and an end to plans to replace the UK's Trident nuclear missile system. Organizers from the Stop the War coalition said 60,000 people turned out in London's Trafalgar Square. In Glasgow, around 2,000 gathered in George Square. The protests, jointly organized with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the British Muslim Initiative, also opposed any military action against Iran. Marchers carried "Don't attack Iran" banners and posters calling US President George Bush a "terrorist." (BBC, Feb. 24)

Oil rose above $61 Feb. 26 as UN Security Council plus Germany met in London to discuss tightening sanctions on Iran, the world's fourth largest exporter. Oil prices reached a high of $78.40 on the Lebanon fighting last July, and dropped to a 20-month low of $49.90 in January. Prices have risen steadily since late January. Analysts cite a tightening supplies—OPEC has twice cut output since November—and concerns over a possible disruption of Iran's supplies. (Gulf News, UAE, Feb. 27) The US is calling for further pressure following the expiration of the Feb. 21 deadline established by December's UN Security Council Resolution 1737 for Tehran to halt its nuclear program. Iran says the resolution is illegal since it violates its right to peaceful nuclear technology under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). (Press TV, Iran, Feb. 26)

In the last weeks of 2006, just before Washington's new escalation of the propaganda offensive against Iran, the Tehran government announced it is shifting its foreign currency reserves from the dollar to euro—and switching to the euro for oil deals—in response to US-led pressure on its economy. In the long-expected move, Tehran said it would use the euro for all future commercial transactions overseas. Tehran had been steadily shifting its foreign-held assets out of dollars since 2003. "There will be no reliance on dollars," said Tehran spokesman Gholam-Hussein Elham. "This change is already being made in the currency reserves abroad." (BBC, Dec. 18)

Archeologists warn that if the Sivand Dam in Iran's southern Fars Province is completed, precious relics from antiquity will be lost. The dam is projected to flood a gorge and an archaeological area called the Tangeh Balaghi. By increasing humidity in the environs, experts say the floodplain could also damage the nearby Pasargadae plain, which includes the sixth century BCE tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the first Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. Supporters of the Sivand project point to the hydroelectric power that the dam will generate for the area and possibilities for economic growth. The dam is slated to be completed this month, and the floodplain will take one year to fill. Teams of Iranian and foreign archaeologists are working feverishly to finish excavations at sites due to be flooded. A letter of protest against the project was has been issued by 30 organizations and parties—including the Association of Qom Seminary Researchers and Teachers, a reformist clerical grouping. The statement points out that the project would also flood traditional grazing grounds for nomadic tribes, and drown at least 8,000 trees—some of them 500 years old. Protests were held against the project Feb. 12 at the Energy Ministry in Tehran, and in front of parliament two days later. (RFE/RL, Feb. 23)